Sketches at the SCVA “Magnificent obsessions”

8 January 2016

During my visit to the Magnificent obsessions exhibition, I took the opportunity to sketch some of the exhibits, the permanent collection and the architecture if the UEA student Halls of residence (“Ziggurats”).

Permanent collection

I was very interested in a concrete sculpture by F.E. McWilliam. The work, entitled “Kneeling figure” (1947), was very detailed in form (particularly musculature). Interestingly, the torso was missing! This was appealing, because it concentrated the viewers’ glance on specific areas of the body and negative shapes, rather than having to consider the sculpture as a human form in it’s entirety.

My sketches concentrated on the head and the arm. Making the sketches was a useful exercise in studying negative shapes. The lighting on the face helped me understand the structure of the face, which I enjoyed drawing from an unusual angle (looking up from underneath the jaw).

Magnificent obsessions exhibition

Photographs were not allowed inside the “Magnificent obsessions” exhibition, so it was valuable to make a few sketches. I started by drawing some of the African face masks and I also enjoyed sketching some of Edmund de Waal’s porcelain pots.

  

I then make a more detailed drawing of Damien Hirst’s male adult lion taxidermy specimen. I liked the fact that I could walk round to the back and make a sketch from this rather unusual angle (with lots of foreshortening).

I sketched one of Hirst’s human skull specimens (which was rather challenging).

Finally, I sketched one of the medical anatomical models which Hirst had collected.

I had started the day drawing in pencil on plain paper, but as my confidence grew, I changed to sketching with biro in my notepad. This allowed for no correcting, and by using the pen I became more relaxed and fluid. Sketching with OCA friends also helped me get back into the swing.

Ziggurats sketches

The halls of residence at UEA are called Ziggurats, because they resemble ancient Egyptian pyramids. They are a famous example of “Brutalist” architecture. I made some very rough sketches and finished them when I got home. It was difficult because I had to sketch outside and my fingers were very cold!

Sketches over Christmas 2015

28 Dec 2015

I am including a strange collection of sketches! I spent Christmas in Spain, and a few unrelated subjects caught me eye.

Palm trees

Whilst sitting at a bar, I observed a palm tree trunk. Successive leaves which had died and been removed formed a type of ‘bandage’ of overlapping layers and gave a scruffy texture. 

Near the base, the lattice seemed quite regular, but as l continued up the trunk l realised that the pattern was breaking down and becoming disjoint. It reminded me of a loose, woven structure, with fraying edges. The sharp, clean shapes of the fronds were in contrast to the truck.

A stray cat

This little cat came over to the house where we were staying and each each day my son enjoyed feeding and playing with it. I tried to capture some of those lovely ‘feline’ postures. Unfortunately, the cat barely stayed still for 2 minutes and all the drawings are very rough and rather incomplete!

Obese lady

I am interested in body image and at the airport I had the opportunity to sketch a very overweight lady. My figure drawing class models have been very slim, so it was interesting to observe how the fat falls in folds and where on the body it is deposited. It is also interesting to note the different postures that people who carry weight adopt when they are sitting (in this case), standing or moving. 

 

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Mersea island

15 December 2015

I visited Mersea island with the aim of making some sketches which I could develop further using mark-making within my sketchbook. I feel that my sketchbook contains plenty of ‘drawings’ but not needs more expressive development work.

Mersea is an island in Essex which is cut off from the main-land at high tide, due to water covering the only road onto it (The Strood). The tidal range means that for a lot of the time there are exposed mud-flats, give the opportunity to see marginal vegetation and tracks in the mud made by birds, ropes and feathered boats, and of course, the flow of the water.

The day was supposed to be dry, but a fine mist (turning into drizzle) made sketching conditions difficult. My sketchbook felt like it had a fine spray of water covering it, and the watercolour pencils immediately yielded dark heavy marks, as if they had been dipped in water before drawing.

 

I headed for “The Hard” – an area of old smugglers’ cottages, oyster beds and a working boatyard. The tide was out and I could see the view across the Blackwater estuary towards Bradwell-on-sea. Everything was grey – the mud, the water, the fields beyond and the sky! Boats lay stranded in the mud, which exhibited ripples and strake-marks.

I made a detailed drawing of the marks in the mud around one of the boats, and made a further simplified drawing (below)

There was a lot of tonal variation in the mud – areas of standing water, shadows from lines in the mud, bright light reflecting off wet areas. 

I walked along the sea wall further and made another sketch, this time looking inland towards Ray Island and Abberton Reservoir.

When I got home, I used this image to explore the chromatic greys in the view using acrylic paint.

The sky is the only area which is not ‘muddy’. The tide comes in over the mud, so the sea is always a brownish-grey.

I also make a drawing of some seaweed. I was interested in the forking (bifurcation) of the blades, the lobe-like shapes of the small floats, and the bumpy roughness of the large oval floats.

 

I am pleased that my sketch captures the colour and shape of the plant, but it does not represent the texture very accurately. The watercolour pencils are Matt, but the seaweed blades are glossy and light-reflective. It will be an opportunity to use some novel materials in my sketchbook as I develop the them further.

 

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Orford castle

December 2015

As I was early to visit a friend, I continued my journey to the village of Orford and made a quick sketch of the castle.

The building is a large structure with lots of windows, standing on the top of a mound/hill. It had clearly once been symmetrical, but is now showing signs of weathering a repair. 

I was particularly interested in the texture of the bricks which were crumbly and showed signs of variable weathering, giving variation in tone across the building’s surface.

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Apple tree shedding leaves

November 2015

I made this sketch while I waited to collect my son from school.

The apple tree had clearly been pruned regularly. As most of the leaves had fallen, the skeleton-like structure of the branches was visible. I was attracted to the negative spaces and the fact that the twigs were knobbly, not smooth and already bore leaf buds.

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Sketches from a fungi forage

25 November 2015

I chose a woodland walk on a day when a local wildlife group were doing fungi identification. Not only was I able to sketch fungi which I had seen on my walk on a fallen tree truck (below)….

….but a fabulous specimen with textured cap and gills. I wish I’d added colour to my sketch at the time (or just a colour band at the side of the sketch to remind me).

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Sketches on a farmland walk

October 2015

I often go on long walks in the Suffolk countryside, but until recently I have found it difficult to find time for sketching. The act of stopping, getting the drawing pad and pencils out of the rucksack, fumbling without h cold (maybe gloved) fingers, just means that you tend to keep walking.

I found that by carrying a small enough sketchbook in my hand, and having a few appropriately coloured pencils in my pocket certainly facilitated sketching. I estimate that my walk was about 6 miles. I made the following sketches.

1. Winter wheat emerging from a ploughed field

2. Track along the side of a field of Kale with farm buildings and trees in the background – this sketch would have benefited from the addition of colour.

3. This was a narrow track through bare thorny twigs, which covered the path like a tunnel

4. This rusty old barn was an interesting combination of red and grey corrugated tin. The sketch bottom right is of an Ash tree trunk. It bore a “tag” – maybe to do with marking for Ash die-back. The bark texture was very interesting.

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Animal sketches (horses)

Nov 2015

I make some quick (10 minutes) sketches of ponies grazing on the local common.

Inspired by the OCA weekender e-bulletin “Drawing animals“, I decided that I would try and develop the pictures in a similar way to OCA drawing student Emma Hunt.

Below are my attempts, which are rather disappointing. I realised that I didn’t have enough knowledge of the form of the animals, and probably needed a lot more initial sketches (or to do these development drawings when looking at the animals).

Soft pastel

Oil pastel

Felt marker

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Sketch at Loddon church – EEA meeting Sept 15

Sept 2015

A meeting of our informal OCA student group, East Anglia Extreme was accompanied by some sketching a Loddon church. I didn’t have much time, so just made a quick sketch of the interior church door.

The stone has some nice textures and cracks and would possibly make a good subject for an etching.

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Drawing with software

Nov 2015

A quick visit to a local art shop and I ended up browsing (and then purchasing) a book by Traci Bautista (1). It turned out to be a timely purchase. The book has some great ideas about printmaking and suggestions for developing and combining techniques. However, more important was that it directed me towards some appropriate art software/apps.

I downloaded copies of Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Mix, Procreate and ArtRage and started to experiment. I found that not only did they give me the facility to import and manipulate my own images to create patterns, but that I was also able to produce drawings from scratch.

Undoubtedly, using a tablet to draw takes some getting used to when you are familiar with pencils and paint, but it has advantages. It is possible to create layers and hide or reveal certain parts of a drawing. There is also the “undo” button! There is no problem of damaging the paper of surface with repeated erasing or “heavy” mark-making.

Below is my first attempt at a free-hand drawing. A bit disjoint as I was experimenting to find out as much as I could about the different marks available.

 

 

Next I tried a tonal drawing (below). Done from my imagination, I have made a beginners mistake of drawing the nose too long.

I also found that it was possible to import a picture, add a layer, “trace” over it, then complete the drawing. The photo underneath can be removed (or hidden) afterwards (see below). 

Although I prefer to draw freehand (because only then do you achieve that wonderful feeling of spontaneity), I can see that the technique might be useful as a aid to understanding proportions, for example in portraiture.

 

References:

1. Bautista, T. (2014) Printmaking unleashed – more than 50 techniques for expressive mark making. North Light Books. Blue Ash (OH)

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